Science

This week’s science picture

Dr Rafael Palacios giving us a little demo of his modelling.

This week’s science picture

Unmanned micro air vehicles (MAVs) are being used for a range of applications, from surveying dangerous areas to delivering packages. So far however, long range and high manoeuvrability are mutually exclusive. A collaboration of Imperial with Southampton, is developing a MAV prototype with bat-inspired wings. The wings use polymers situated in the membranes, stiffening and relaxing in response to the electrical current running through them. According to Dr Rafael Palacios, from the department of Aeronautics at Imperial, ‘‘The MAVs will be able to travel longer distances in tighter spaces with high controllability, just like a bat’’ making them and their production more economical. The aim is to get the bat-inspired technology to fly a distance of 30 or 40 miles. However, this requires a lot more work as they will need a battery or chemical device. In the future these MAVs could rival the 10 mile range of Amazon drones.

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An interview with the Imperial student hunger striking for Palestine

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An interview with the Imperial student hunger striking for Palestine

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.  On Tuesday 10th June, Imperial Action for Palestine, and Imperial Friends of Palestine, two of the groups protesting the actions of Israel in Gaza, posted an announcement that a student had begun a hunger strike following a meeting with Imperial’s

By Mohammad Majlisi
New data on Imperial professors’ salaries reveals gender and faculty differences

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New data on Imperial professors’ salaries reveals gender and faculty differences

A recent Freedom of Information request has revealed the highest professorial salaries endowed by Imperial are mostly attributed to males and Business School professors. Beyond the outsized numbers of male professors, gender discrepancies in earnings stood out. While the salary distribution for professors of both genders is comparable for pay

By Guillaume Felix